Colby Covington believes Tyron Woodley wanted out of the UFC Fight Night main event.
Covington finished the former welterweight champion in the fifth round of the one-sided contest Saturday in Las Vegas. Woodley suffered a rib injury and verbally submitted as the two battled for position on the ground, but "Chaos" saw it as a way to escape the fight.
"I broke him," Covington said at the postfight press conference. "The (fourth) round, he quit. After I cut him open and I put vicious ground-and-pound, he was done. He told his coaches he was done. He was just looking for a way out.
"He knew I trapped his arm and I was getting ready to put vicious ground-and-pound on him and finish him right there. He just would rather take the easy way out. He'd rather be a coward, a spineless coward like he is."
Woodley underwent a scan on his rib and confirmed he broke it in the fifth round.
Covington, who bounced back from a loss to champion Kamaru Usman, has feuded with Woodley for several years. The former training partners were expected to fight for the title in 2018 but it never materialized. Covington said Woodley was avoiding him, and he believes he showed why on Saturday.
"(Woodley) got exposed tonight," Covington said. "That's why he's been running from me for so many years. I've been calling him out for five, six years now, and this is exactly why I was calling him out. I knew I would do this. And no one's broke him. No one's finished him. So don't take away from my finish. He got knocked out, he got broken tonight. Just like I said I was gonna do and retire him."
